Recently, there have been widely used various semiconductor devices, such as a light emitting diode (LED), a field effect transistor (FET) and a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), using a compound semiconductor.
Metal organic chemical vapor deposition method (hereinafter, referred to as MOCVD method) is known as one method to grow such a compound semiconductor crystal.
In the MOCVD method, a group III organometallic material gas and a group V material gas, for example, are supplied into a reaction chamber as a mixed gas with a high purity hydrogen carrier gas, the materials are pyrolyzed around a substrate heated in the reaction chamber, and a compound semiconductor crystal is epitaxially grown on the substrate, thereby to obtain a compound semiconductor wafer.
As a conventional art described in an official gazette, there is a technique in which plural growth wafers being growth targets of compound semiconductor crystals are arranged with growth surfaces of crystals facing upward within an epitaxial growth furnace to which a material gas is supplied, in an MOCVD apparatus using the MOCVD method (see Patent Document 1).
Additionally, as a conventional art described in another official gazette, there is a technique in which an MOCVD apparatus using the MOCVD method is provided with a substrate holder rotating while holding plural substrates with growth surfaces of compound semiconductor crystals facing upward, and a cover plate provided above the substrate holder so as to face the substrate holder, within a reaction chamber to which a material gas is supplied. In the MOCVD apparatus, the material gas is supplied from a center portion of the cover plate toward the substrates held by the substrate holder (see Patent Document 2).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 2002-234793    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 2003-518199